Summary of the Nanotechnology Energy and Electronic Group

The discussion of the group was focused and productive.

There was a general sense that Nanotechnology will be able to solve some old scientific problems and can attract the top students. Examples for potential revolutionary scientific break through are:

• Efficient conversion of sunlight to electrical power: Use the broad spectrum of sunlight to pump a laser and convert the laser light to electric power with a voltaic cell which is optimized for the particular laser light (introduced by Osama Abolfottoh).
• Nanocapacitors as high-energy-density batteries: The energy density in macroscopic parallel plate capacitors is limited by dielectric break through. However in nano scale capacitors quantum phenomena can prevent dielectric break through. The energy density in nanocapacitors is limited by the spontaneous creation of matter and anti-matter. Thus the energy density in nanocapacitors can be at least six orders of magnitude higher than in macroscopic capacitors (introduced by A. Hubler).
• Digital wires for secure and robust data transmission lines and power lines: Digital wires are nanostructured thin film structures which form Boolean networks. In contrast to analog wires, electrical pulses on digital maintain a constant shape independent of the length of the wire, there is very little cross talk, there is no echo, and the propagation speed can be dynamically adjusted. Periodic pulses can be used for highly controllable power transmission. Pulses with large information content appear random. Digital wires are hardware implementations of elementary cellular automata and can be used as general purpose computers, solving simple tasks ranging from error correction, to encryption/decryption and general computational tasks. Digital wires can transport data in parallel and could be used to move data fast and reliable from the memory to the CPU and back. Human neurons are digital wires (introduced by A. Hubler).
• Nanocoated photo-voltaic umbrellas extract water from the ‘dry’ air, and water and shade plants: Use the shade from nanocoated solar panels to protect plants from intensive sunlight. Use the electric power to refrigerate low-humidity air below its dew point and attract the water droplets to nanocoated absorber. This projects addresses all five items on the priority list: (i) Water is produced. (ii) Fresh agricultural products improve the health of the population. (iii) Energy is produced and used locally, without losses in transmission. (iv) Environment: The water contains no minerals, -i.e. the salt concentration in the agricultural soil stays constant. (v) Opens desert land for agriculture(introduced by Teresa Esser).

• Students have to develop a deep understanding of quantum phenomena and get introduced to quantum engineering.
• The conference participants should start collaborations to transform ideas into devices
• The conference participants should start international collaborations, and organize a follow up, such as a workshop.

Participants:
Teresa Esser, Silicon Pastures, U.S.A, teresa@siliconpastures.com
Hari Eid, Birzeit University, Palestine
Alfred Hubler, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, U.S.A.
Khaled Bodoor, University of Jordan, Jordan, khaledbodoor@yahoo.com
Ahmed Al-Salaymeh, University of Jordan, Jordan, salaymeh@ju.edu.jo
Johannes Schwenk, University of  Michigan, U.S.A., schwank@umich.edu
Feras Afaneh, Hashemite University, Jordan, afaneh@hu.edu.jo
Mohammad H. Kailani, University of Jordan, Jordan, kailanimh@yahoo.com
Zain Yamani (KFUPM), zhyamani@kfupm.edu.sa
Sandra Jamal AlRawashdeh, Computer Engineering student, University of Jordan, Jordan, dark.princess.z666@gmail.com
Abeer Adnan Elayyan, Physics student, University of Jordan, Jordan, cute-3booor@hotmail.com
Eman Husni Da’as, Physics student, University of Jordan, Jordan, eman.daas@kaust.edu.sa
Feda’ Al aqqad, Physics student, University of Jordan, Jordan, Dreamslife_f@hotmail.com
Mazen Khoury, Higher Institue for Higher Science and Technology, Damascus, Syria
Yousif Nabeell, UGS, Jordan, theboss2h@yahoo.com
Jalal Khalil, Birzeit University, Palestine, theboss2h@yahoo.com
Osama Abolfottoh, North Carolina State University, U.S.A., osama@ncsu.edu
AMR Haggag, Freescale, U.S.A., AMR.HAGGAG@FREESCALE.COM
Wasel Ghanew, Birzeit University, ghanem@birzeit.edu